Conglomerate Mesa Wildlife

September 26, 2023

Conglomerate Mesa wildlife

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Desert Collared Lizard (Crotaphytus bicinctores)

Rock Wren (Salpinctes obsoletus) - Photo by Roy Harrington. There was an area with 15 rock wrens rock hopping/flitting around! They were in more spread out in other areas of the mesa.

Panamint Rattlesnake (Crotalus stephensi)

two very big Western Fence Lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis)

a grasshopper, possibly a Pallid-winged Grasshopper (Trimerotropis pallidipennis).  There were thousands there! Dozens jumped out of the way with each step.

Five Checkered White Butterflies (Pontia protodice). This flowering Flaxleaf Monardella (mint family) was very popular. Other visitors were Northern White Skippers, Orange Sulphur butterflies, Acmon Blue butterflies, White Checkered Skipper, and Becker's White butterflies.

Coyote tracks in the snow show that coyotes are at Conglomerate Mesa too! 

home of a woodrat

A Cactus Chimney Bee (Complex Diadasia australis) in seventh heaven in a Beavertail Pricklypear cactus flower.

A caterpillar on an Apricot mallow plant. Species unknown.

A rather large entrance to a burrow. Whose? 

And there are animals that lived in the ancient seas here millions of years ago: brachiopods, crinoids, gastropods, sponges, corals, bryozoa, and fusulinids.

A dust bath and scat--both are evidence of rabbit.  We observed deer scat at Conglomerate Mesa as well.

Western Side-blotched Lizard (Uta stansburiana ssp. elegans)

Western Fence Lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis) posing.

Northern White Skipper (Heliopetes ericetorum)

The brown rice-like grains are fusulinids dating back 300 million years. Fusulinids were single-celled marine organisms with calcite "tests" or hard shell. They died out in the Permian Extinction.

Seven-spotted lady beetle.

Nest of a woodrat's home along with a few side exits/entrances.

By: Lynn Boulton

Save the Mesa!

 

photo of Trumpet buckwheat with Conglomerate Mesa silhouette in the background

On the way to the mesa, the Joshua Trees were in a sea of trumpet buckwheat. It was just stunning and worth saving!

I was lucky to be out at Conglomerate Mesa for a few days while it was in bloom this past June. The mesa was alive with Rock Wrens, butterflies, snakes, lizards, flowers in bloom, flowers just past their peak, and thousands of grasshoppers!! Check out the wildlife at the mesa!

Mojave Precious Metals, a subsidiary of K2 Gold has submitted a plan of operations requesting permission to drill at 30 sites in a remote, roadless area in the Southern Inyo Mountains at Conglomerate Mesa. The comment period is open until October 16, 2023. Please submit your comments urging the BLM to only allow helicopter access. "Temporary" roads were put in by BHP in the late 1990's so they could drill at 10 locations. The road scars are still very visible today, 25 years later. Those roads brought in invasive species: Cheatgrass, Russian thistle and Halogeton. Reopening those roads will spread those noxious weeds and rip out many flowering plants. Some of those plants that will be ripped out have special or protected statuses. 

If you want to help, please sign up for the Conglomerate Mesa newsletter to receive updates and information on rallies, educational events i.e., Gold 101, and how to comment. For more information go to Protect Conglomerate Mesa.